Pac-Man Theology

Every day I post a quote on my personal Facebook wall.
It is a quote that has impacted me in some way.
It is a quote that I have come across from a favorite theologian or writer.
Often the quote calms my spirit and I know it will calm another.

Sometimes, I come across a quote that is an offense.
I just don’t like it.
Then I ponder why I dislike it so much.
That can prove to be an exercise in futility or prove to be very fruitful.

I happened on one such quote.
My pondering brought me to interesting places.
Places that brought thoughts to mind that needed to be put down.
Places that others may benefit from if they were revealed.

G.K.Chesterton was an English writer, theologian, poet, orator, and Christian apologist.
G.K. Chesterton is often referred to as the “prince of paradox.”
It was a Chesterton quote that perturbed me.
He wrote: Every man who ever entered a brothel went there looking for God.

I took offense at that quote.
How dare he suggest that a man would go to a brothel and expect to find God there.
That is not what a man would look for if he frequented such a place.
I was ready to dismiss the quote, but it would not leave me.

The quote tumbled in my head.
I searched all possible meanings.
It was not until I came across a quote by Andrew Peterson that I began to understand.
Peterson went to the heart of what Chesterton was trying to say.

…no man ever opened a book or walked into a movie theater who wasn’t looking for God. We’re drawn to stories, to songs, to paintings, buildings, faces, feasts, and laughter because they remind us of the world that was, and the world to come. (Andrew Peterson)

I added a word.
No man ever went to a brothel who wasn’t looking for God.
Similar to the Chesterton quote, I began to understand.

We never had video or computer games in our house.
Not having them does not make me immune to their existence.
I remember one of the earlier arcade games: Pac-Man.
Pac-Man goes through a blue maze eating pac-dots.

When all the pac-dots are eaten, he is taken to the next phase.
I have never played the game and don’t think I would like it much.
However I always liked the design of Pac-Man.
A yellow circle that was missing a piece.

The missing piece was supposed to be his mouth.
To me, Pac-Man’s missing piece is a metaphor for so much more.
His missing piece reminds me of the piece we are all missing.
The missing piece that only God can fill.

We can search the world over for something that will fill that void.
We can try to find it in food, or power, or sex, or wealth.
NOTHING will fill that missing piece.
It is a God-shaped hole that only God can fill.

We have a terrible hunger in us that we need to satisfy.
The sad thing is that we look to satisfy that hunger in all the wrong places.
We walk away from this thing and that thing still unsatisfied.
We escalate our search, including things we would never dream of doing.

All in search of the Something that will fill the God-shaped hole we all have.
God created us with that void.
It was no accident.
It was put there to create a longing that ONLY He can fill.

Frederick Beuchner, wrote something profound in one of his essays.
Why don’t You just write Your name in the stars?
Beuchner was talking to Jesus.
He was suggesting that if Jesus wrote His name in the stars, people would know Him.

People would finally know Him.
Or would they?
More than likely, they would explain Him away.
It is just a cloud formation; it is a mist that looks like letters of a name.

We explain away spiritual things when all along they may very well point us to Him.
We dismiss the things we can’t explain or we explain them the only way we know how.
We usually fall terribly short.
Our God-shaped hole remains unfilled.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

When we quiet our hearts and still our minds, we will hear Him.
God’s call is irrevocable.
We do not run away from the call of God.
All the things that called to us before will pale in comparison.

We will see the emptiness that has been there all along.
We will realize the futility of searching for God in things that can never satisfy.
We will finally submit and admit our hunger.
We will run to the One who can truly satisfy.

I will put My laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be My people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, “Know the Lord.” because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more. (Jeremiah 31:33,34)

The God-shaped hole is there no longer.
It has been filled with the Holy Spirit when we hear God’s call and answer in faith.
We are reborn; we are made new.
We are full, our insatiable hunger is satisfied in Him.

Amen and Amen.